Space Real Estate Agents?

A Teacher's Heart Smiles when...

A teacher’s heart smiles when students become creative, enthusiastic and take ownership of their work. This was the case with the 4th grade class at my school. Their classroom teacher asked me to introduce podcasts to her class, she and her students took it from there and RAN… with it…

I came to their classroom to let them listen to various examples of class-podcasts and talk to them about  creating a collaborative storyline, that would tie individual audio segments together. I also talked to them about the importance of voice acting in order to engage their audience.

Here are some sample podcasts they listened to:

• Flat Stanley Podcast
• Magic Tree House
• Zoo Trip
• Endangered Animals

Students started to get excited as we were brainstorming scenarios for their storyline.

Brainstorming on the SmartBoard

We took a screenshot of the final list and uploaded the image to their classroom blog. Students were then asked to write a short paragraph on the blog detailing their storyline. The class was going to vote for the best storyline to be used for their podcast.

Screenshot of Possible Storylines

From their classroom blogs:

Sabrina M.

I think the plot should be where we go the Kennedy Space Center and Hannah accidentally pushes the button that launches the rocket so we go to all the different planets and then an evil alien says that we cannot go back to Earth unless we can name four facts about every planet. And that’s when we say all our facts.

Josh Z.

Plot: We go into space accidentally and we get a tour of space. After the tour a black hole suddenly says ” take a quiz of the solar system if you get any questions wrong the sun will disappear ” and we take the quiz and the sun doesn’t disappear.

Reesa Z.

We should do something where we all were asleep and we had a dream about and alien taking us to the solar system and then he/she would give us a tour about the planets. Then we will talk about our planets. After that we all wake up and realize it was just a dream.

Ryan H.

Real estate agents: Aliens from many galaxies away want to sell, The sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, asteroid belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto are on the market from alien Real estate agents. The aliens want you to know 4 facts about each planet in order to buy them. If you dont get all 4 facts for your planet by Friday Earth will be destroyed.

Hanna G.

I think the storyline should be: One night all of the classmates dreamed of aliens coming out of the blackhole and they came to capture us. Then the next day we came to school and we went to the Kennedy Space Center and clumsy Hannah accidentally launched the rocket and then it fell so we had to go back to the class and when we got back the class turned into the solar system. In the solar system we learn about all the planets. When we were done we went to the alien real estate agents to get us back home.

Allie I.

Everybody in the class goes home and goes to bed. They all have the same dream. In their dream, they dream about space and learn about space. When they go to school the next morning, they all figure out they had the same dream and talk about what the dream was in class.

Edyn G.

I think that we should be staying at a hotel and there is not enough beds so we pull out a pull out bed and while every one is asleep it turns into a rocket ship and takes us into space and then it turns into a bus and we tour space and then it turns into a rocket ship and gos back to the hotel.

Montgomery P.

I think the plot should be: We go outside for recess, and Daniel tells everyone to come look at what he found. He found twenty jet packs. So we all take a field trip to all the planets and the moon and sun. So when we get back we put the jet packs back where we found them.

Rachel O.

Our classroom turns into the space shuttle because by accident Josh tripped over a binder and pressed the button and no one knew what it did until they all saw the stars and planets.After they see all the stars and planets the class wants to go and take a look around at them all.Mrs.Raitt says “Ok let’s go!”.We all are looking at the planets and then we go back to school.

Shira D.

I would like to do a news cast where on the news they announce that aliens have captured people and they take then around the solar system and that is my idea!

We booked time in the computer lab to allow students to “play” with Garageband and learn about tracks, background music, splitting, editing and moving tracks.

The classroom teacher created a list of planet facts that each group had to include in their segment and students started to write their script.

Items to be included in script

Once each group finished and exported their segment, we imported these files into a new Garageband project and arranged the segments in order.

Putting Podcast Together

Take a “listen” to these 4th graders “Space Real Estate Agents” podcast. Honor their efforts as

• storytellers
• collaborative team members
• creative writers
• producers
• directors
• audio editors
• podcasters

Leave them a comment, including your location, so they can track their listeners on a Map.

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View MJGDS-4th Grade Space Podcast Audience in a larger map

Experiencing the Winter Olympic Games via International Collaboration

Working with Sarah Soltau- Heller from Port Hardy, Canada has been an incredible pleasure. A prime example of “Collaboration Etiquette among Professionals“could be defined.

We started out by collaborating on a Google Doc between teachers. We had an idea section, a time line as well as an area to compile resource links.With e-mail and skype calls we crafted a project that both ends would feel comfortable with (tech skill & time wise).The idea was to collaboratively allow students to create a sports news cast about the Winter Olympics.

Then we created a wiki that would house all the media, information, documentation and resource links for our Olympics 2010 Collaboration project.

Brainstorming with Wallwisher

To stir enthusiasm even further for the second graders on our end, Sarah arranged for a Skype interview with one of the Olympic torchbearers from her home town.

Interview with Olympic Torch Runner from langwitches on Vimeo.

Sarah and I had a very interesting discussion on Skype about what our goals for a COLLABORATIVE project were going to be. We did not want to have our students gather information, deposit them on the wiki and then independently “do their own thing”. We wanted them to share the spirit of the Olympics

I have been thinking about the collaboration thing since we chatted on Skype.  Is this really collaborative?  Is it really collaborative learning for the students from each other?  How to make this about the children creating and producing and not just me spending hours on the computer.

Within our schools we collaborated with the art teacher and librarian to pull in more resources and connect what students were learning and experiences with other subjects.

Learning about Orcas from Canada

Learning about Orcas via the Arts

Learning about the Sport of Curling

We created a VoiceThread with images of all the sports disciplines represented in the Winter Olympics. As students were learning about each sport from books, TV at home or videos shown in school, they were to take note of facts or other helpful information to be recording in an audio comment on the VoiceThread.

The VoiceThread would then become the primary source of information for the students for background information as they were preparing their final Sports Newscast script.

Students then recorded their sports segment of the podcast, alternating between students from the USA and Canada to produce an international newscast.

We created the podcast in Garageband, each student on a different track. Sarah sent all her students’ tracks as mp3 files to me, which I then dragged and dropped onto the tracks in my Garageband project file. I added sound jingles for transitions and …voila… we had a collaborative international newscast.

We also arranged for the students to practice and play the Winter Olympic Wii game of Curling. Each class practiced individually.

Practicing Curling on the Wii

Cheering each other on

When then arranged a day and time to have a final competition. Unfortunately we had an accident on our end and our Wii console fell and would not operate. We still sang the Canadian and American National anthem for each other and watched the Canadian team do their Curling via Skype.

Singing the National Anthem of Canada and the USA

Besides learning about Winter Sports, the objective of the unit was global awareness, sportsman ship, patriotism, learning about other countries and flags.

For the teachers it was an incredible adventure of international collaboration. Thank you Mrs. S-H & Mrs. B.

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Tweeting with Elementary School Kids

My teachers and students at my current school have heard me talk about Twitter more than once (well… more than a hundred times would be more accurate). I have been the “middle(wo)man” between the students and their classroom teachers to make connections (For Skype calls around the World), ask for advice, disseminate a project or request feedback (CSI Twitter) . How do I move from being that sole connector and disseminator to preparing students for that role?

I am planning on working this out with a 5th grade class (10-11 year olds).

First step was to create a Twitter Classroom account. At this point we are testing the waters and will protect our tweets, so only approved users can follow us.

We filled out the profile, added an avatar, link and a bio.

Lee Kolbert has set up a Google Spreadsheet for teachers who are using Twitter with their classroom ( students/parents). Great way to learn about how others are using it as a tool to communicate, collaborate and learn.

We had a “Twitter Meeting” with 5th grade to introduce Twitter and brainstorm ideas HOW the class was going to use it.

• Sharing with others when we skype with people from around the world and what we learned
• Summarize what happened in the classroom that day
• Share links to classroom blog posts
• Share with others how 5th graders learn best

As we were brainstorming, I sent out a Twitter shout out on my Langwitches account and asked:

5th graders and I are brainstorming HOW they will use a classroom twitter account. Give them some of your ideas . Please RT

Here are some of the great suggestions we received.

So, we are off to be pioneers in an uncharted territory of Twitterland with with elementary school students. I am hoping to observe and document our successes and pitfalls in order to encourage other educators to take the plunge and learn from our experiences.

If you are already experimenting with your elementary school students on/with Twitter, please share what you have learned.

We are also looking to follow other 5th grade classes to learn with and from.